Ecobank Ghana PLC has announced the appointment of Abena Osei-Poku as Substantive Managing Director of Ecobank Group and Regional Director for the Anglophone West Africa (AWA) region, effective January 1, 2024.
He succeeds former Acting Managing Director Joanna Mensah, who assumes the role from August 15, 2023, upon the retirement of former Managing Director Dan Sackey.
Mrs. Abena Osei-Poku is a Pan-African business leader with over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry.
Her expertise spans corporate banking, investment banking, business banking and risk management at a regional level.
She began her career as a private banker at First Atlantic Merchant Bank. She then joined Standard Chartered Bank Ghana as an Assistant Relationship Manager, after which she became a Credit Manager for a multinational company.
He then served as Head of Group Special Assets Risk Management (SARM) in Ghana from 2001 to 2002, after which he had oversight responsibility for the West Africa and Central Africa region.
In 2005, he became director of global corporate affairs at a wholesale bank. After 10 years at Standard Chartered Bank Ghana, he was appointed Executive Director, Commercial Banking with responsibility for Corporate and Business Banking by Barclays Bank Ghana.
Abena Osei-Poku was appointed joint regional head of corporate and investment banking at Absa Bank Group (formerly Barclays Bank) in 2016, overseeing East and West Africa.
She was then appointed CEO and Managing Director of Absa Bank Ghana, a position she held until her recent appointment at Ecobank.
She has extensive experience at the board level, having previously served on telecommunications, banking, commerce and hospitality boards.
She is currently the Chairperson of the Advisory Board of the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, and the retired Chairperson of the Ghana Stock Exchange Council.
Additionally, she is an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing in Ghana, and serves on other executive forums.
Abena Osei-Poku holds an MBA from Manchester Business School, UK and a BA in Economics and Statistics from the University of Ghana.